Temptation gets defined by the spirit of the person confronted with one. But it also goes back to the original temptation in the Garden: to become like God, to take God's place. In the context of the Lord's Prayer, we need to think big, too.
When we look at the Genesis 22 account of Abraham being called to sacrifice his only son with Sarah, Isaac, we find God's request monstrous. That's intended. In a witness to his utter faithfulness, we're chilled as Abraham methodically proceeds and is only stopped at the last moment. Normally, we focus on his (crazy) faithfulness, or on God's providence of a ram to sacrifice, but the aspect of temptation for the normal person to shun the demands of God is very real. Doesn't faithfulness sometimes seem like a crazy demand? Our temptation is to override the request, playing God ourselves.
Jesus' wilderness sojourn prior to beginning his ministry is an exercise in spiritual discipline, preparing him for the confrontation with the Tempter. As we consider each of the temptations presented, we need to keep the bigger picture of Jesus' ministry in focus, a mission to bring the Kingdom and transform the world. In our little world, the temptations take on an equally challenging form.
Where will your spirit take you? What would you decide? Check out the whole story in the sermon video below, and note that there is an MP3 audio-only file for playing, or downloading and convenient portable listening below the video panel.
When we look at the Genesis 22 account of Abraham being called to sacrifice his only son with Sarah, Isaac, we find God's request monstrous. That's intended. In a witness to his utter faithfulness, we're chilled as Abraham methodically proceeds and is only stopped at the last moment. Normally, we focus on his (crazy) faithfulness, or on God's providence of a ram to sacrifice, but the aspect of temptation for the normal person to shun the demands of God is very real. Doesn't faithfulness sometimes seem like a crazy demand? Our temptation is to override the request, playing God ourselves.
Jesus' wilderness sojourn prior to beginning his ministry is an exercise in spiritual discipline, preparing him for the confrontation with the Tempter. As we consider each of the temptations presented, we need to keep the bigger picture of Jesus' ministry in focus, a mission to bring the Kingdom and transform the world. In our little world, the temptations take on an equally challenging form.
Where will your spirit take you? What would you decide? Check out the whole story in the sermon video below, and note that there is an MP3 audio-only file for playing, or downloading and convenient portable listening below the video panel.
| 09-09-18-the_lord_and_his_prayer-temptation_and_evil.mp3 |
| 09-09-18-ff-answers.pdf |
| 09-09-18-the_lord_hisprayer-temptation.pdf |